Automatic transmissions have a parking lock which with the introduction of a parking position is activated via a gear selector device. The parking lock usually consists of a parking lock gear situated upon a transmission output shaft and a parking pawl which meshes in the parking lock gear. The parking lock is actuated by means of the gear selector device usually electrically or via a Bowden cable.
EP 0 650 000 A1, e.g. thus shows a purely electrical system in which the parking lock is activated and deactivated by an electronic transmission control system, via a stepping motor and a rear-mounted encoder. In said purely electrical parking lock, the problem now appears in the practice that when the battery is discharged no more sufficient electrical energy is available in order to release the parking lock.
In addition to this, DE 196 43 304 describes a solution in which from the interior of the vehicle, via a manually operated device coupled with a braking pedal already available, a spring accumulator is released which brings the selector shaft to neutral position and thus releases the pawl of the parking lock.
In the already known solutions, the parking lock has to be released only from the interior of the vehicle. If the vehicle has to be moved without entering into the vehicle, the parking lock has to be releasable from outside the vehicle.